How to Use the Finance Marketplace

Summary 

This article introduces the Finance Marketplace, a consumer-led platform that allows customers to independently explore and customise financing options on their proposals. It covers how to enable the marketplace and guides you through the customer experience, from filtering loan terms to reviewing payment breakdowns.

OpenSolar offers the Finance Marketplace, a consumer-led platform designed to offer flexible financing options while ensuring regulatory compliance. This marketplace creates a clear separation between the installer and the credit provider, allowing your customers to explore and compare loan options independently on their proposal.

This article guides you through activating the marketplace and how your customers use it to explore loan options.

Contents

• Activating the Marketplace
• The Customer Experience: Exploring Options
  • 1. Launch the Marketplace
  • 2. Customise Loan Terms
  • 3. Review Breakdown
  • 4. Proceed to Application
• Available Lenders
   

Activating the Marketplace

To start offering financing through the marketplace, you must request activation through OpenSolar by activating a Marketplace Lender in Control > Pricing & Payment Options > Payment Options. See list of Marketplace Lenders below. 

This marketplace is the UK cash-payment control, labelled Finance Marketplace Enabled. MCS accreditation applies to UK organisations. Outside the UK, the same cash-payment control is labelled Checkout Finance Enabled and does not use MCS accreditation.

• How to Activate: Connecting a lender does not put Finance Marketplace on every proposal. On each Cash payment option, Finance Marketplace Enabled must be on. Outside the UK, that control is labelled Checkout Finance Enabled. Save and recalculate the system after you turn it on.

• Note: For existing projects created before activation, you may need to recalculate the system (refresh calculations) for the financing options to appear.

Click here for the full setup guide. 
 

Controlling Availability on Proposals

Once the marketplace is active for your organisation, you have full control over which customer proposals display these financing options.

Finance Marketplace is part of a Cash payment option. It is not a separate lender payment option on the project.

Global Control

You can toggle specific marketplace lenders on or off for your entire organisation in Control > Pricing & Payments > Payment Options. The Marketplace is configured on individual Cash payment options. 

Project-Level Control

You can choose to show or hide the marketplace for individual projects:

• To Show the Marketplace: Open the project’s Payments tab, or Design, then Pricing. Keep a Cash payment option on the system and turn Finance Marketplace Enabled on for that option.

  • Tip: Save and recalculate after you turn Finance Marketplace Enabled on, so Explore Finance appears on the proposal.
    

• To Hide the Marketplace: Turn Finance Marketplace Enabled off on that Cash payment option. Explore Finance then stays off the proposal, even if the lender is still connected for the organisation.
  

The Customer Experience: Exploring Options

The Finance Marketplace allows your customer to customise their finance terms before they ever start an application.
 

1. Launch the Marketplace

On the online proposal, the customer opens the payment section and selects Explore Finance. On some layouts the label is Explore Finance Options or Explore Finance Marketplace. That opens the Finance Marketplace window. Learn More is only the connect button under Control, then Pricing & Payments, then Payment Options.

2. Customise Loan Terms

Inside the Marketplace, customers can interact with the options to find a plan that suits their budget:

• Filter by Term: Use the slider to view loan options with different duration terms (e.g., 5, 10, 15 years).

• Note: If your project has a mandatory deposit set in OpenSolar, the slider will start at that minimum value.

• View Monthly Payments: As the customer adjusts terms and deposit amounts, the Estimated Monthly Payment and Total Repayable figures will update dynamically in real-time.
  

3. Review Breakdown

A detailed payment breakdown is displayed for each option card. This provides full transparency on the costs associated with the loan. The specific figures shown (such as APR, Total Repayable, or Fixed Interest Rate) will vary depending on the specific lender's requirements.

4. Proceed to Application

Once the customer has found an option they like, they click "Apply Now" on the specific product card.

• What happens next? The application process is dictated by the specific lender.

  • For some lenders, the customer may be redirected to the lender's secure website.

  • For others, the application happens directly within OpenSolar.

Quotes shown at the initial stage are based on the information provided at that time. If further details are later provided or verified during underwriting, the final offer and repayments may change.

Available Lenders

For detailed guides on the specific application and payout workflows for lenders currently available in the marketplace, please see the articles below:

• Propensio Finance: An API-driven integration where the application and payout trigger happen directly within OpenSolar.

• Selina Finance: A marketplace integration offering Home Equity-backed products. This is a "customer-funded" model where funds are paid directly to the homeowner, who then pays the installer via your standard payment milestones.